Senior Photonics Engineer – PIC Lead

About SiLC: SiLC is a silicon photonics platform company with an immediate opening for a full-time, on-site (in Monrovia, CA) Senior Photonics Engineer. This person will be part of a dynamic and experienced team designing the silicon photonics engines and devices at the core of SiLC’s products. As PIC lead, the role owns photonic system design from architecture through tapeout — directing the layout team and serving as the primary technical interface to our foundry partners to deliver SiLC’s silicon photonics solutions. The ideal candidate has a track record of leading PIC tapeouts end-to-end and is comfortable driving technical decisions with development team leads, foundries, and senior management. Position Overview Responsibilities: • Act as PIC lead for SiLC’s silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs), owning each design from architecture and specification through tapeout, test, and product integration. • Design and define photonic system architectures for SiLC’s product engines, including optical link and loss budgets, noise and power analysis, and product integration. • Design and simulate PIC circuits and components: waveguides, couplers, splitters, modulators, detectors, and coherent receivers with appropriate simulation tools (e.g. FDTD, EME, etc). • Direct the layout team, setting floorplans and layout priorities, and review layouts, DRC/LVS results, and GDS before tapeout. • Serve as the primary technical interface to foundry partners, ensuring design rule compliance, mask data preparation, process options, and tapeout schedules through fab-out. • Define PIC-level and system-level test plans, collaborate with test engineers to analyze wafer and packaged-device data, and feed results back into future tapeouts. • Mentor and provide technical guidance to photonics engineers, and collaborate with packaging, systems, electronics, and software teams to bring SiLC’s products to market. Qualifications: • D degree in Photonics, Applied Physics, Optical Engineering, or a related field, and 5+ years of industry experience in silicon photonics design. • Demonstrated experience as PIC lead, taking multiple silicon photonic designs from architecture through tapeout and test. • Strong background in photonic system design, including link budgets, noise and loss analysis, and translating system requirements into component specifications. • Experience with photonic simulation tools (e.g. Lumerical FDTD/MODE/INTERCONNECT, PICS3D, Ansys, or similar). • Hands-on experience working directly with layout teams and silicon photonics foundries, including PDKs, design rule checks, and tapeout submissions. • Strong communication and leadership skills to drive technical decisions with development team leads, foundry partners, and senior management. Preferred Qualifications: • Experience with silicon photonics foundry processes (e.g. AIM Photonics, GlobalFoundries, imec, Tower Semiconductor), including managing foundry relationships. • Experience with PIC layout and GDS tools (e.g. KLayout, GDS Factory, Synopsys OptoDesigner, Cadence Virtuoso). • Experience designing coherent receivers, FMCW lidar, or other coherent sensing systems. • Familiarity with laser integration, electro-optic co-design, and PIC packaging (fiber attach, hybrid or heterogeneous integration). • Experience mentoring engineers or leading a small technical team. • Proficiency in Python or MATLAB for simulation, automation, and data analysis. Compensation: • Base salary: $150,000-190,000 based on experience level and qualifications • Stock options. • Other benefits include health/vision/dental insurance, 401(k), etc. Apply Now